Year of Spiritual Thinking, Month 8

Rebalancing for the Equinox

Autumn view over the Uncompahgre River Valley near Montrose, Colorado

Hello Friends,

We’re close to the autumnal equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere, when the days and nights are equal length. The word equinox is made up of equi for “equal,” and nox for “night”—as in when the nights are equal to the days. (For those in the Southern Hemisphere, this time of year brings the spring equinox.)

The periods when day and night are in balance lend themselves to thinking about our own balance: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. The equinox—September 22nd this year—is an opportunity to pause, even for just five or ten minutes, and consider where you are in your life and in physical space, and where you are in your spiritual and emotional paths. It’s an opportunity to breathe and rebalance.

The Celtic Festival of Mabon

In Celtic practice, the fall equinox is the festival of Mabon, midway between Lugnasa (Summer Solstice) and Samhain (Day of the Dead and Halloween). These three festivals mark important turning points in the natural year and also the annual cycle of spiritual observance.

Mabon is named for a Welsh hero who as a baby was held captive in the underworld in a story similar to the Greek myth of Persephone and her mother Demeter. The festival celebrates the fruits of the harvest as the year in the Northern Hemisphere slows from summer’s frenzy of growth into fall’s slower-paced transition to winter, when much of life goes dormant or at least sleeps in.

Rebalancing: Heart, Mind, Spirit—and Stuff

Spiritually, this is a time of rebalancing, of taking stock of what we want to carry on—whether material items, or memories, emotions and dreams—and what we are ready to let go. The idea of balance rises naturally out of the equinoxes, the two times in the solar year when the days and nights are equal, or in balance.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, autumnal equinox offers the opportunity to prepare for the inward journey of the coming long-night/short-day season. The Vernal Equinox is the time to prepare for the outward journey of growing: planting, tending and harvesting summer’s abundance, whether metaphorically or literally. Either way, it’s a good time to lighten our load, whether figuratively or literally—or both.

Quaking aspen leaves turning gold on the hillsides on my drive home yesterday as the trees prepare for the coming winter.

Equinox Exercise in Rebalancing

Here’s one way to go about lightening your load and finding some balance between what you want to hold in your life (as in material things) or in your heart-bank (for intangibles like memories, emotions and dreams). It’ll take about ten minutes—plus time to follow through on implementation.

The First Step: Give yourself three minutes to list eight things you want to hold in your life, things you might want to make a practice of celebrating or at least feeling grateful for on a daily basis. Write or type them in a column on the left-hand side of the page. And then to balance this particular ledger-sheet, take three minutes to list eight things you no longer need or are ready to let go of on the right-hand side of the page.

Note that the two columns can be completely unlike: your “keep and celebrate” list might only be tangible things, while your “find a new home for or shed” column might all be intangibles (habits you’re ready to unlearn, for instance). Or each column might be a mix.

The point is, one column doesn’t necessarily relate to the other. The balance comes in writing down a like number so that we’re recognizing the importance of both appreciating and releasing.

For decades—basically, the entire time I was married to my beloved but very disorganized husband—I’ve had a balancing practice that applies to material belongings. I call it No Net Accumulation or One-in, One-out. Meaning if I bring one new thing into my house—whether that’s a new pair of shoes or a new book (shoes and books are my main lust in terms of accumulating)—I have to find a new home for something of equivalent size, value or type.

No Net Accumulation can apply to intangibles too: meaning don’t let your emotional or spiritual baggage accumulate either.

Sunset as the Uncompahgre River rushes by my cabin….

Second Step: Look over each column and then make a to-do list of how to implement your re-balancing. This part is especially important. Writing the columns is about noticing; implementing is about actually making a shift in your life.

For instance, if you listed a favorite tangible item of some sort in the keep-and-celebrate column, maybe you want to move that thing to a more prominent place in your house, or if it’s an item of clothing, wear it more often. Or just notice and appreciate that item on a regular basis, letting yourself remember why it is important to you.

For the let-go column, make definite plans for how to handle each thing or intangible: Basically, how will you follow through? For example, If you’re letting go of a relationship that no longer works for you, how and when are you going to handle that? If it’s that suit you used to wear but is now dusty on its hanger or the backpack you have kept but not used in decades, what are you going to do with them? Write up a to-do list and deadlines for letting go of each item.

And then feel the shift in your energy as you work through your list.

Take time every day to breathe mindfully and assess your balance. Note how you feel, and express your gratitude for this life and your part in it. Also, thank yourself for being mindful and compassionate as you go about working your way through this particular balance sheet.

Mabon/Autumnal Equinox blessings to you all!